{"id":141993,"date":"2023-09-22T12:41:44","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T12:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theprojectsworld.com\/?p=141993"},"modified":"2023-09-22T12:41:44","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T12:41:44","slug":"police-drop-investigation-into-woman-arrested-for-praying-silently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theprojectsworld.com\/world-news\/police-drop-investigation-into-woman-arrested-for-praying-silently\/","title":{"rendered":"Police drop investigation into woman arrested for praying silently"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Police drop investigation into Catholic woman who was told &#8216;praying is an offence&#8217; as she was arrested in &#8216;exclusion zone&#8217; around abortion clinic &#8211; and apologise to her for six-month ordeal<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested outside clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>She was previously found not guilty following same act in December last year\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A woman who was arrested for silently praying outside an abortion clinic will not face charges and has been given an apology by police for her six-month ordeal.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Video showed Christian campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce being confronted by police outside the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton,\u00a0Birmingham, in February.<\/p>\n<p>Officers from West Midlands Police told her &#8216;engaging in prayer&#8217; was &#8216;the offence&#8217; after she insisted she was &#8216;not protesting&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The latter act could be an offence inside &#8216;buffer zone&#8217; regulations introduced last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They make it illegal to intimidate or harass anyone within 150 metres of an abortion clinic.<\/p>\n<p>Ms Vaughan-Spruce&#8217;s arrest came weeks after\u00a0she was found not guilty by Birmingham Magistrates Court for silently praying outside the same clinic in December last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, police have said &#8216;there will be no further investigation&#8217; into the February incident and have apologised to Ms Vaughan-Spruce, who is the director of anti-abortion group March for Life UK.<\/p>\n<h3>What are PSPOs and how do they stop protests around abortion centres?<\/h3>\n<p>Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs) are designed to allow local councils to prevent anti-social behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Councils were given the power to enforce them in\u00a02014 through section 59 of the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act.<\/p>\n<p>The authority lists the activity that is banned within a particular geographical area, with a \u00a3100 initial fine rising to \u00a31,000 if it goes to court.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>MPs have also introduced buffer zones around abortion clinics following an amendment to the Public Order Bill.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This makes it an offence to intimidate or harass anyone within 150 metres of the buildings.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone found guilty of breaching the zone to intimidate, threaten or persuade women will face a fine or six months&#8217; imprisonment, increasing to two years for repeat offences.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The law change came out over concerns about councils being sued by anti-abortion campaigners challenging PSPOs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In an email to the campaigner, the police told her that they had dropped their investigation because the &#8216;limitation of proceedings&#8217; had expired on September 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>They added: &#8216;I again apologise for the time this case has taken to come to this position.&#8217;\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Speaking via charity ADF UK, which has campaigned against buffer zones, Ms Vaughan-Spruce said: &#8216;This isn&#8217;t 1984, but 2023 &#8211; I should never have been arrested or investigated simply for the thoughts I held in my own mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Silent prayer is never criminal. I welcome West Midland Police&#8217;s decision to end their investigation and their apology for the time it took to do so, but it&#8217;s important to highlight the extremely harmful implications of this ordeal not just for myself, but for everyone concerned with fundamental freedoms in the UK.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;What happened to me signals to others that they too could face arrest, interrogation, investigation, and potential prosecution if\u00a0caught exercising their basic freedom of thought.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Ms Vaughan-Spruce added that she will now resume her practice of &#8216;praying silently for women in crisis pregnancies.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>The video that went viral showed officers asking Ms Vaughan-Spruce to\u00a0&#8216;step outside the exclusion zone&#8217; that exists around the Birmingham clinic.<\/p>\n<p>However, she told officers that she was &#8216;not protesting&#8217; and &#8216;not engaging in any of the activities prohibited&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Police responded: &#8216;But you&#8217;ve said you&#8217;re engaging in prayer, which is the offence&#8217;, to which she replies: &#8216;Silent prayer.&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The officer then said: &#8216;No, but you were still engaging in prayer. It is an offence&#8217;, to which Ms Vaughan-Spruce answered: &#8216;I disagree.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>She was then arrested by six officers for breaching what is officially known as a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/12\/68421977-12549117-Officers_ask_Ms_Vaughan_Spruce_to_step_outside_the_exclusion_zon-a-1_1695382675470.jpg\" height=\"1268\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Video showed Christian campaigner Isabel Vaughan-Spruce being confronted by police outside the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham , in February<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/12\/68421975-12549117-Video_shared_online_shows_Isabel_Vaughan_Spruce_director_of_anti-a-2_1695382707628.jpg\" height=\"634\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Officers from West Midlands Police told her &#8216;engaging in prayer&#8217; was &#8216;the offence&#8217; after she insisted she was &#8216;not protesting&#8217;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/12\/68435385-12549117-Map_showing_the_boundary_of_the_exclusion_zone_highlighted_red_a-a-5_1695382794477.jpg\" height=\"529\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Map showing the boundary of the exclusion zone (highlighted red) around the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/12\/68435467-12549117-General_view_of_the_BPAS_Robert_Clinic_in_King_Norton_Birmingham-a-6_1695382797285.jpg\" height=\"438\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>General view of the BPAS Robert Clinic in King Norton, Birmingham<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/12\/67754791-12549117-Ms_Vaughan_Spruce_was_confronted_by_police_when_she_was_standing-a-3_1695382731340.jpg\" height=\"444\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ms Vaughan-Spruce&#8217;s arrest came weeks after she was found not guilty by Birmingham Magistrates Court for silently praying outside the same clinic in December last year (above)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/12\/67754335-12549117-Isabel_Vaughan_Spruce_right_pictured_outside_Birmingham_Magistra-a-4_1695382734512.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Isabel Vaughan-Spruce (right) pictured outside Birmingham Magistrates&#8217; Court with Catholic priest Father Sean Gough in February. The pair were both accused of protesting outside clinics<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/22\/12\/75726285-12549117-image-a-19_1695383475758.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Supporters of Father Sean Gough, a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, and Isabel Vaughan-Spruce at Birmingham Magistrates&#8217; Court in February<\/p>\n<p>Police said at the time that she had been bailed while officers took statements from residents and people working in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Her first arrest on December 6 last year sparked a fierce debate,\u00a0with supporters saying she was effectively arrested for &#8216;thoughtcrime&#8217;, a term which ADF UK used.<\/p>\n<p>Buffer zones were introduced as an amendment to the Public Order Bill last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The UK&#8217;s first buffer zone was introduced around an abortion clinic in Ealing, west London, in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>Buffer zones have been hailed by pro-choice campaigners as an important step towards de-stigmatising abortion and preventing the harassment of those who attend abortion clinics.<\/p>\n<p>However, critics see them as an attack on freedom of expression.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after Ms Vaughan-Spruce&#8217;s February arrest, MPs rejected attempts to allow silent prayer outside clinics.<\/p>\n<p>A group of Tory and DUP MPs tabled an amendment aimed at ensuring no offence is committed if a person is &#8216;engaged in consensual communication or in silent prayer&#8217; outside the clinics or hospitals offering abortion services.<\/p>\n<p>But in a free vote, the proposal was rejected by 116 votes to 299, majority 183.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-12549117\/Police-Catholic-woman-praying-offence-arrested-abortion-clinic-apologise.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police drop investigation into Catholic woman who was told &#8216;praying is an offence&#8217; as she was arrested in &#8216;exclusion zone&#8217;&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141992,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Police drop investigation into woman arrested for praying silently - The Projects World<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theprojectsworld.com\/world-news\/police-drop-investigation-into-woman-arrested-for-praying-silently\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Police drop investigation into woman arrested for praying silently - The Projects World\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Police drop investigation into Catholic woman who was told &#8216;praying is an offence&#8217; 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